It is a short trip from Boulder City to Hoover Dam.
This was our first view of Lake Mead, the lake behind Hoover Dam.
We arrived a little early for our tour, so we did our own short tour around the area.
We took a picture of the bridge over the Colorado River. Later on our tour, we learned that after 9/11/2001, traffic was rerouted around Hoover Dam. The main road over the Colorado River in this area went directly over the dam. Today, the traffic is routed over the bridge in the picture. We also spent some time in the museum where they displayed a model of the dam under construction.
The tour began at 10:30. Our first stop was at one of the pipes that was used to divert the Colorado river during construction. Next, we got to see the turbines on the Nevada side of the dam. The green crane with the US flag on it is used to remove and add parts to turbines as needed. There is a second crane further back. From above the turbines, we could also see the work area for turbine repair and maintenance.
The tour guide also pointed out the Navajo art displayed throughout the dam. The first artwork we saw was a design on the floor in the turbine area. We saw many other places where artwork was displayed. When we reached the hallway in the last picture in this group, the tour group divided. Several of us had paid to see more of the interior of the dam.
Just to the right of the hallway shown above were some pictures showing the planning and construction of the Hoover Dam.
This picture of the Colorado River running through the canyon unimpeded was the most interesting photo in the group.
The second part of the tour took us through a tunnel built into the dam. It led to a vent (the bright light in the tunnel) where we could take pictures of the face of the dam. The picture of the dam with sky above is looking upward from the vent. We got a second photo of the bridge from the vent.
We were warned about a seismic detector in the tunnel. We were told not to bump it. It is there as a warning for people in the dam in case of earthquakes. The guide said that the dam begins a lockdown in case of earthquake warnings. She said we would have to walk up the stairs if the alarm went off. Don’t know if the story was true about bumping the detector, but we were all very careful just in case.
After the entire group got their chance to take photos at the vent, we stopped at the stairway in the last photos in the group above. There are staircases running from the bottom to the top of the dam. The dam is 726 feet tall, the equivalent of a fifty story building. Before the guides can lead a group, they must know all the passages in the dam. That means they get the chance to walk down and up the staircases just to know what they are like. Our guide said her best time for walking up fifty stories was 30 minutes. Looking at the pictures, it looks like a very long, claustrophobia inducing climb.
After the tour, we exited the dam at the top. We got to ride the elevator. We took several photos of the dam from many different viewpoints.
We also took photos of the surrounding area, including some artwork on the top of the dam. The white stone above the water level in Lake Mead shows how far below the maximum water level the lake is today. Lake Mead is currently at about 34 percent of its capacity.
During the tour, we often heard the guides refer to the Nevada side and the Arizona side. The differentiation was reenforced by the two clocks at opposite ends of the dam.
When we completed our tour, we drove to Williams, Arizona. In northern Arizona, we saw mesas, mountains, and sand dunes.
The tour of Hoover Dam was a fun day.